Tension device for winding-machines.



J 0. McKEAN.

TENSION DEViCE FOR WINDING MACHlNES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1917.

Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

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APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1917- Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

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ASSIGNOR T0 FOSTER MACHINE p COMPANY, OF WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ACORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

TENSION DEVICE FOR WINDING-MACHINES.

1,256,03Q. Original application filed February 2,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN O. MGKEAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Westfield, in the county of Hampden and State ofMassachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in TensionDevices for Winding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in tension devices forwinding, the objectbeing to provide an adjustable, varying tension mechanism, which can bemembers, as desired, while the winding progresses, to keep the draft onthe thread uniform during the winding operation, or to cause the drafton the thread to increase or decrease as the winding progresses.

In the drawings I have shown my tension device applied to a windingmachine such as is 'shownin my pending application, Serial No. 75,802,of which this application is a division. c

Figure 1 is a front view in elevation;

Fig. 2 is an end view in elevation showing the end of the machine to theloft in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3' is a detail, in plan, of a portion of the tension mechanism,taken on line 33 of Fig. 2,-looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a detail, in sectional elevation and enlarged scale of thetension disks and associated parts.

My improved tension mechanism as herein shown and described, is appliedto a winding machine designed to produce a cop of the well known openwind, self-binding type. The thread is to be wound upon a quill ofcard-board or the like; this quill is slipped endwise onto a spindle land the leading end of the'thread m is fastened thereto. When themachine is started the spindle and quill rotate together and the threadas, directed by th reciprocating thread guide 2, is wound onto the quillin long, open spirals, the spirals laid by the reciprocation of thethread guide in one direction being crossed and bound down by thesucceeding spirals laid by the reciprocation in the opposite direction.The spindle l is mounted in a suitable bearing, for rotation, and thethread guide is engaged by a rotating cam 16, and reciprocated back andforth upon a suitable guide rail 9, which guide rail is carried atitsends by arms 10 iorg part at a hous- Specification of Letters Patent.

set to release the tension Patented Feb. 12, 191%.

1916, Serial No. 75,802. Divided and this application filed May 26,

1917. Serial No. 171,219.

ing 11, rotatably supported upon an arbor 14. Within the housing 11 thearbor 14 has mounted thereon the cam 16, which engages the tang 2l ofthe thread guide 2. All the above mentioned parts and others notnecessary to be described in this application are shown in myapplication, Serial No. 75,802. On the side of the housing 11 opp0- siteto that upon which the thread guide rail 9 is mounted is secured aweight45, which tends to throw the thread guide constantly in thedirection of the cop and to cause it to travel close to or in contactwith the cop. The cam 16 rapidly reciprocates the thread guide 2lengthwise of the spindle 1 layin successive layers of thread upon thequiil and as the cop grows the thread guide is forced away from thespindle and swings the housing 11, which carries the thread guide rail9, upon the arbor 14.

I have provided an automatic tension control in which the thread or yarnfrom which the cops are built is led from the supply around a rotatablespindle a mounted in the end of fixed spindle b, the thread or yarnpassing between two disks 0 and d (see Figs. 1 and 4), the former fastagainst movement on spindle a, and the latter, by a pin and slotconnection, capable of endwise movement. From the disks, the threadpasses under a drop wire, 6, and upwardly over guard f to the threadguide eye and cop. Slidably mounted upon the spindle b is a sleeve {1which is exteriorly threaded to receive upon it an adjustable nut itbetween which and disk d is arranged a spiral spring 71 which yieldinglypresses against a loose sleeve j which in turn abuts upon the disk d andpresses it against the thread or yarn as it passes between the disks 0and (Z, the initial pressure of the spring 2' against disk (Z, andtherefore the initial tension on the yarn or thread being determined bythe adjusted position of the nut h on sleeve 9 and the consequent springpressure. During the operation of building a cop, the cop, of course,grows in diameter, with the result that the yarn or thread is drawn fromthe supply at a continually increasing rate of speed which thread oryarn in exact proportion to the increase in speed and in order tocounteract this and maintain the proper tension,

have herein provided for automatieatly increases the tension on the.

relaxing the tension producing device or devices as the speed ofmovement of the thread or yarn increases during the growth of the cop.To accomplish this the sleeve 9 is made at one end with an arm gpivotally connected with a small sleeve is slidably mounted upon a cambar Z. This cam bar 1 is pivoted at m to a slide and its opposite endextends loosely through a square sleeve 0 resting upon the top of sliden. Sleeve, 0, is pivotally connected to asquare nut p mounted upon ascrew g rotatably supported at its ends by slide 12 and held againstendwise movement thereon by a collar 1' and thumb piece .9. At itsforward end the slide n rests upon an arm t forming part of 'the frameof the machine while the rear end of said slide is supported by the lugu to shifted bodily on arm t direction of this sliding movement of saidwhich it is pivotally connected by a screw '0. Thus it will be clearthat the slide a is whenever the housing 11 is swung on arbor 14 andthat the slide is crosswise of the axis of spindle b. By means of thescrew 9 the cam bar Z is set in a diagonal position relatively to thespindle b so that it will also be clear that the bodily movementimparted to the slide 11, during the growth of a cop is imparted to thecam bar and the latter, acting through the sleeve k, arm g, sleeve 9 andnut h, will automatically relax the pressure of the spring 73 on disk 01thus decreasing the tension ef fect of the two disks 0 and d as thewinding progresses. v

As is well known it is a property of a spiral spring that it increasesor decreases its resistance in exact accord with the amount which it isdistorted from its normal spiral. This property is taken advantage ofin. the ordinary spring balance scales, in which the graduated plateindi: cating the weight is equally spaced and the spring correspondinglydistorted by the weight. I take advantage of this by employing astraight cam bar which, when set at the proper angle, for every inch ofradial growth of a cop and consequent increased speed of the thread,will exactly compensate by permitting the spring to correspondinglyexpand and thus decrease the tensional drag on the thread in exactproportion to the increase caused by the increase in speed. have shownadjusting means to vary the angle of the straight cam bar, since it isnot always desired to keep the tension uniform, but itmay be desired togradually increase or decrease the tension as the cop builds.

I claim In a wlnding machine, an automatic tension device made up of twopresser members; a spiral spring adjusted to press one I member towardthe other; an adjustable abutment to adjust the tension of the spring; astraight cam bar set at a desired angle to the axis of the spring; aslide upon the cam bar; a link between the slide andthe spring abutment;a carriage carrying the cam bar and connected to the thread guide sothat the movement of the thread guide due to growth of the cop will movethe cam carriage and regularly and progressively relieve the tension ofthe spring and pressure on the presser members.

Signed by me at Westfield, Massachusetts, this twenty-third day of May,1917.

